Daily GK Update 8 March 2015 Current Affairs

1.Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal becomes the first Indian woman player to reach the finals of All England Badminton Championships.She defeated Wang Yihan of China.
2.Snooker has been short-listed among three sports to be included in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo
3.NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has created history by becoming the first mission to achieve orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres
with an aim of providing new insights and capturing images from the
distant world.The spacecraft was approximately 61,000 kilometres from
Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity.
4.Kerala‬ Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan (66) passes away.
5.Walmart India today announced two executive appointments with Ashwin Mittal as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Javier Rojo as head of Real Estate and Business Development.
Mittal will replace Jill Anderson, currently the CFO of Walmart India, who will soon repatriate back to Walmart in US.
6.December 2015 UNFCCC Paris Conference

The European Union (EU) has formally adopted climate change targets
for December 2015 UNFCCC Paris Conference. Adopted climate change
target includes a 40 per cent cut in emissions by 2030. These targets
were agreed by leaders of the 28 EU member-states at a summit in October
2014 but now have been officially forwarded to the United Nations.

United States also has formally announced its intention to reduce
emissions by 26-28 per cent in 2025 compared with their level in 2005.
It should be noted that US accounts for 12 per cent of global greenhouse
gases emissions.

The socio-economic standing of women in India is the lowest among
16 Asia Pacific countries, according to Mastercard’s latest Index of
Women’s Advancement.Indian women stand even lower than their
counterparts from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Across the region, New Zealand had the highest overall Index score
of 77, followed by Australia (76), the Philippines (72.6) and Singapore
(70.5).

iv. India (44.2), Bangladesh (44.6) and Sri Lanka (46.2) had scores
below 50, indicating that much more needs to be done to achieve gender
parity.

8.The Budget Sessions of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Assemblies began
today.The Budget Sessions of both Assemblies are being held
simultaneously for the first time after the reorganisation of these
states last year.

Telangana Finance Minister E. Rajender will present the Annual Budget on 11th March 2015, while his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Yanamala Ramakrishnudu will present the budget on 12th March 2015.Governor for both states : ESL Narasimhan

9.To mark International Womens Day tomorrow, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry organizing 3-day special Health Camps throughout country from 8th to 10th March 2015.

Under the initiative, special health check-up camps will be held at
the District Hospitals, Sub-district Hospitals (SDHs) and Community
Health Centers (CHCs) on three days. These will offer free of charge
health check-up to all women, including pregnant women across the
country.

Union health and Family Welfare Minister : J P Nadda

10. Artificial glacier in Phyang village of Ladakh

Artificial glacier in the form of Ice stupa was inaugurated at Phyang
village in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Phyang village is a
desert region of Ladakh.The purpose of building such stupa is to store
water to green the entire desert of Phyang which has an area of 1500
acres.The Ice stupa with a height of 50 feet will store roughly two
million liters of water while another 6 million liters of water absorbed
in the ground will add moisture to the earth for tree plantation.

11. Gujarat has reported 80 per cent penetration
of the Direct Benefit transfer of LPG (DBTL) scheme Pratyaksh
Hanstantrit Labh (PaHaL) of the total active LPG consumers in the state.

As per the latest figures shared by the public sector OIL players,
as on March 2, 2015, about 79.7 per cent or 4.8 million active LPG
consumers have joined the PaHaL scheme in Gujarat.12. New Kailash Mansarovar Yatra route by JuneThe
new route for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Nathu La in Sikkim will
be operationalized during this yatra season beginning in June. The route
through Nathu La will augment the capacity and reduce
the hardship enabling many pilgrims, particularly aged ones, to
undertake the yatra. The new route was necessitated as the current route
through Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand is cumbersome and also the number of pilgrims increasing.

13.Gold recycling to stay muted in 2015

Recycling is the most dynamic element of supply and helps balance
the gold market. Recycling is good for the environment as it limits the
amount of gold that has to be mined. Recycled gold (which accounted for
an average of about a third of total global gold supply in the last 20
years) fell to its lowest level in the last seven years in 2014 and is
likely to remain ‘muted’ in 2015.

The level of recycling has remained fairly stable
in India, and makes up a remarkably small proportion of its total stock
of gold — less than 0.5 per cent of the estimated annual 22,000 tonne in
India.

14. Muthoot FINANCE has bagged MoneyGram’s ‘Best
Sub-Agent in South Asian Region’ for the third consecutive year. The
award was presented to George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director,
Muthoot FINANCELtd, by Grant Lines, Senior Vice-President, MoneyGram
(South Asia, Middle-East and Asia-Pacific), in the presence of Harsh
Lambha, Senior Regional Director, South Asia Region.

Muthoot Finance’s MONEY transfer service is
recognised as the largest payout centre in India with two million
transfers being executed annually. With 20 lakh transactions worth Rs.
3,500 crore across all its branches last year, the service continues to
grow at a rapid rate, a statement issued here said.

15.Tendulkar, Dhoni for ‘greatest ODI cricketer’

Sachin Tendulkar and M.S. Dhoni are among five leading contenders vying for the crown of the greatest ODI cricketer of all time.

16.Senior Journalist and Outlook Group’s editorial chairman Vinod Mehta
passed away on 8 March 2015 at the age of 72. He was one of the India’s
most influential editors, fine journalist & writer.Awards- He was
conferred with Yash Bharti Samman (2015) by Uttar Pradesh government.
18. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two
units each of 600 Mega Watt (MW) capacity in Shree Singaji Thermal Power
Project in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Shree Singaji Thermal
Power Plant is a coal-fired project.

It is owned and developed by Madhya Pradesh Power Generation
Company Limited (MPPGCL). The two units were inaugurated as part of the
first phase of the project which added additional 1200 MW power
capacity. This additional power capacity will help to increase the
thermal power generation capacity of the State to 4500 MW and will play
key role state government’s Atal Jyoti Abhiyan which is aimed at
providing 24 X 7 power supply.

19.International Women’s Day is being celebrated today.

Governments, NGOs and other organizations across the globe observe
International Women’s Day on the 8th of March every year to highlight
the achievements of women while calling for greater equality.This year’s
celebrations will highlight the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action, a historic road-map signed by 189 governments 20 years ago that
sets the agenda for realizing women’s rights.

This year’s Theme : Make It Happen

Union Health Ministry will celebrate the day as Safe Motherhood Day today.